Board Thread:Pokémon Help/@comment-31398341-20180120145424/@comment-27535813-20180131062753

Hayds126 wrote: text

I'll like to mention a few things before I re-iterate myself for so many times even on the PBB viability rankings thread:

1. Not everything has to have a lasting effect, look at a suicide lead, chesto-rest, mental herb, white herb, terrain seeds, berries, etc.

2. I agree that of course, z-status moves and mega evolution will last longer. But that's not the point of how damaging z-moves work to begin with.

3. Yes, prediction is necessary, but so is everything else. In a competitive environment when battling an opponent who actually knows what he or she is doing, there is bound to be mindgames.

The whole point of z-moves is to lure or break walls(&add versatility when used with status moves such as z-rain dance and z-conversion). Even if the z-moves itself is 1 time use, the have you considered it's impact instead? The fact that it can lure and easily remove a threat from the team means it'll make the opposing team harder to try and check the thing it needs to (hence the purpose of why they even brought along such a team member anyway). The fact that it can make set-up sweepers break through ordinary checks is amazing in itself. e.g. Mimikyu with Ghostium-Z instead of the usual Life Orb using Never Ending Nightmare on Skarmory, Celesteela and Ferrothorn. Luring becomes more effective due to the fact that Pokemon can now run viable moves in order to succeed said tactic. e.g. Volcanion with z-Solar Beam to hit through common Water-type defensive answers. Timing is practically important for everything save a few things that just need you to spam 1 button to win. Just because z-moves sound riskier in their 1 time use doesn't equate to it being bad simply because you used it at the wrong time. As I've said earlier, it also helps to absorb Knock Off although that isn't the main reason for using it of course.

However, if you wish to insist that it's mainly useless since it plays a "minor role" in the outcome of the battle and "is restricted by timing" that much then okay.

Conclusion: Timing isn't everything for z-moves, it has a lot of effect and can create more interesting sets, whether it's used on a status or damaging move.